Lying
by StarfireRocks
Summary: And the way she said it, with no emotion, and the sparkle in her eyes vanished, broke Cyborg's heart.


**Hi! Thought I'd take a quick break from chapter stories and write a quick one shot! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.**

Cyborg was seething. He had been locked up in his room all day, letting no one in, and refusing to speak to anyone. In reality, he would have spoken to one other person, had that person attempted to communicate with him. Unfortunately, it appeared that said person was in no fit state to try and persuade Cyborg out of his room. Perhaps they were too distraught themselves to attempt to cheer him up, but Cyborg had another theory. He did not want to consider it, but after what had happened, after what he had done. . . his suspicions seemed justified. Cyborg could not blame them. How could he? If this was their idea of punishing him for his actions, he would gladly accept it. He had done a terrible thing and was now punishing himself as a result. The thought had crossed his mind that he was overreacting. What if they weren't punishing him? What if the reason they hadn't come to talk to him, had nothing to do with what he had done? What if. . . they had forgotten what happened? Was it truly that bad, what he had done?

Cyborg shook his head sharply. He could not allow these thoughts to penetrate his mind. They were lies. Maybe he_ was_ overreacting. But that didn't change the fact that he had obviously hurt her.

In a fit of frustration, Cyborg slammed his fist against the wall. It didn't matter that he hadn't meant to harm her in any way. In didn't even matter that no one seemed upset with him about it. All that mattered was the way her eyes had widened, they way she had tensed, and the way countless painful memories were brought to the surface and manifested into tears in her eyes. And all the blame fell on him. He had done that to her. He had hurt her far more than she was already hurting, all because of one mistake, one misunderstanding. A slip-up that he would never let himself forget. He would forever remember the way she had drawn back in shock, with pain sparkling in her eyes when Cyborg had let fall from his lips that foul name.

_Troq._

Even now, thirty-two hours later, Cyborg was still berating himself for it. He realized, with a dull shock, why it had been haunting him all day. He carefully went back through the events of the previous day, calling up every conversation he had had with her, clenching his fists when he recalled her telling him what she had been being called all day. With a heavy heart, Cyborg accepted the truth. He had never apologized to Starfire. He had called her that name, and had not asked for her forgiveness. Maybe that was why he was feeling so guilty. Maybe, if he went and asked for it now. . .

Cyborg resisted the urge to do just that. It wasn't right. He deserved this guilt, so he was just going to have to suck it up. Then again, didn't Starfire deserve an apology? And here Cyborg was faced with an inner conflict. Starfire should get an apology from him, no doubt. But he knew that she would forgive him in a heart beat. Or at least say she did. He didn't want to be forgiven, he didn't deserve it. So what was he supposed to do?

Ten minutes later, his mind made up, Cyborg was standing in the roof entrance. He had walked past Starfire's room without looking inside because he knew she would not be in there. He knew that because he was aware that Starfire would not want to trouble anybody else with her problems, meaning she would not be in the most obvious place to find her. Cyborg figured that the others, if they knew her whereabouts, would try and encourage her to confide in them. The solution? Go somewhere no one would find her.

Cyborg walked onto the roof, looking nowhere but straight ahead as he paced towards part of the roof where there was a small alcove only he, and apparently Starfire, knew about. He slowed as he came nearer, doubt gnawing at his insides. What if she didn't want to see him? What is she was angry or upset with him? Maybe she didn't want an apology from him, what if she thought she was obligated to forgive him?

Pushing all of this out of his mind, Cyborg cautiously approached the alcove. "Hey, Star?" he whispered, lowering himself slowly until he was eye level with the shadows in the alcove he knew to be her.

There was a slight hesitation before the shadows whispered back, "How did you know where to find me?" Cyborg squinted into the alcove, attempting to spot her in the darkness.

"Lucky guess. I need to speak with you," he told her, keeping his voice quiet.

"About what?" she breathed back, still not revealing herself. Cyborg sighed. This was more difficult then he thought. He was worried about his thoughts being right. Worried that Starfire might resent him for what he had said to her.

"What I need to say to you, needs to be said while I can see you," he told her. The sky was dark, full of stars, and there was a kind of peaceful quiet surrounding them. Because of this, it seemed wrong to disturb it with loud voices, so he stayed quiet.

After a brief moment where Cyborg feared she would not come out, Starfire slowly inched out of the alcove, revealing to him her bloodshot eyes and wet cheeks. The twinkling light the stars gave out danced in the welling tears in her eyes. "Oh Star. . ." Cyborg whispered, beginning to raise a hand as if to wipe away her tears, but suddenly let it drop, fearing she wouldn't want him to touch her.

Starfire looked away, letting her hair fall to cover her face as she mumbled, "What is it you must say?"

Gathering up his courage, Cyborg gently brushed her hair back from her eyes, and lightly placed a finger under her chin so he could look at her properly. "I never apologized for what I said to you yesterday. I didn't mean to call you that. Starfire, you have to know that I would never _ever_ have called you that if I had known what it meant. The fact that Val-Yor said that to you the whole time and you let him, just stood there and didn't tell anybody. . ." Cyborg growled in anger, trailing off. He started as he felt a small hand lay on his. Starfire turned away from him, instead staring out into the sky, her hand still resting on his. Cyborg followed her gaze, and tried to not think about the anger and guilt churning inside him. When that didn't work, he stared at her again. The moonlight seemed to make her glow, weaving through her hair and encasing her in a dim white light. Her eyes looked sad. She still hadn't said she forgave him. . .

"Cyborg, I do forgive you. I forgave you the instant you said it. You did not understand yet what it meant, and that is my fault. If I had told you sooner, you would have known. . . but I did not tell you. I have been thinking about this all day, and I have come to the conclusion that I did not tell you because I was afraid," Starfire whispered, evaporating all of his fears and yet creating new ones as she finished.

"Afraid?" he mirrored slowly. What could she have been afraid of? Certainly not Val-Yor, right? Starfire took a shaky breath and buried her face in her arms, effectively hiding her emotions from him.

"I was scared of. . . of being told that he was right. Of having my friends look at me and tell me that it is the truth, that I am a Troq," she admitted, her voice muffled. He stared at her in shock. Why would anyone that knew Starfire ever tell her that? How could she even be afraid that that would happen?

"Star. . . c'mon. You know we would never tell you that. It would be lying, not to mention cruel. I can't believe you would ever fear we would think of you like that." Adruptly, a thought struck him. But she couldn't possible think that herself, could she? "You. . . You know that Val-Yor was wrong right?" he whispered, feeling his heart grow tight.

Now she looked him right in the eye. "Was he?" she asked. Cyborg was taken aback by this.

"What?" he sputtered, yanking his hand away from hers and staring at her wide eyed.

"Was Val-Yor wrong? Maybe he was right. Maybe I am worthless," she said, sounding defeated. As Cyborg began stuttering angry protests, Starfire quieted him. She stared at him full on and asked him a simple question.

"Am I a Troq?" And the way she said it, with no emotion, and the sparkle in her eyes vanished, broke Cyborg's heart. She asked it as if she were resigned to the answer, as if the question was merely a formality and she already knew the answer, and it was not good.

"Oh Star, no. No, how can you even think that?" Cyborg breathed, too shocked to yell like he wanted to. Starfire looked away again. But Cyborg grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "You are _not _worthless, Star. You're amazing. You're the best person on this team and we need you. _I _need you. . ." Both of them were stunned at his words. Cyborg dropped his hand, feeling numb. What had he done? He had come up here to apologize, not tell her how he felt about her. . . And now she was staring at him in shock, and he wanted nothing more than to go back to a few minutes before and erase what just happened. But to his surprise, Starfire did not seem disgusted. In fact, Starfire looked. . . relieved?

"Cyborg. . ." she whispered.

"Yeah?" he replied nervously.

"You mean, you, as you humans say, like me? As more than a friend?"

"Er. . . yeah, I guess I do. . . "

At this, Starfire's eyes got a hint of their usual sparkle back and she flew into his arms, hugging him tightly while he still seemed to be catching up. "Cyborg. . . after you called me that. . . even though I knew you did not know what it meant, I feared that you did not like me at all," she murmured, sounding ashamed. This seemed to awaken Cyborg, who wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair lightly. He was shocked that she could think that. Was that why she had been out here? Was that why she thought Val-Yor could have been right? Because of him?

"I guess we both got the truth completely off in our thoughts today. . ." Cyborg whispered to her, and she tightened her hold on him. But he didn't mind, because she had forgiven him, and for once, he was glad that he theory was wrong.

**I wrote this in the middle of the night on a dying laptop. Sorry if it's not great. It is my first Cy/Star fic, and I thought they were a cute couple! Plus I never like how he didn't apologize in 'Troq' so I thought I'd fix that. REVIEW!**


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